My copy of "Essays in Love" is on loan, a sign that it is a treasure shared by all.
As all good books are. They never should be left on a bookshelf (or anywhere else) with other books, crammed together with its only purpose..making its owner look intelligent.
The book I took an almighty 2.5 years to finish.
It even stayed in Hong Kong for 6 months with me.
The pages have turned yellow, bad mouldy spots have appeared, the dog-eared pages have increased since I last read the book and my previous life mantra (and also ex-favourite quote), written on the very last page of the book, has changed. FYI, that quote's : "better being wrong and in love, than in doubt and without love."
That quote has since gone to live in a reclusive place call "Museum of wrong life mantras" as I grew to realise that I am more comfortable being in doubt and without (romantic) love.
This book is a souvenir from my favourite and most coveted job at Borders.
I chanced upon it While on my dreadful cashier duty, when a young lady between 25 - 28 years old handed me the book. I took a quick 2 milli-second look at it, copied the title on a blank piece of paper and the rest is history.
Funny thing was, I bought the book but never truly understood it until end last year, when I re-read the book and quotes. Perhaps university education did put some kind of sense into my little head. Making it THE book of my late teens, THE book that managed to put my perspective of relationships into categorisation and made it food for thought. Alain is not totally correct about love in his book, but he made a statement about the way we analyse love and its stages. Most importantly, he highlghted the possibility to love at many different corners, and the coincidences that cupid throws us with.
